North Dakota Outdoors - Sharptails
5/3/95
Donna Zimmerman and Cari Movchan, mother and daughter, haven't really thought
of themselves as "outdoorspeople." So what are they doing out
here before dawn, climbing a ridge south of Mandan?
They've come to watch a dance. Sharptail
Grouse - dancing. The males parade and cavort - you can't suppress the thought,
somewhat like humans - to win a lady's heart. The females will select a
mate from these dances, to produce this year's brood of sharptail chicks.
Cari is doing a report for a class
at Bismarck State College. Here original interest, as she admits, was to
get an A. But, both she and Donna were surprised at what they learned.
"Just the culture of their dance ... like the drumming of their feet
and the feathers ... It was a lot more interesting than I thought it would
be," said Cari.
Females seem to select the males that show the most energy, and do the best
job of defending their territories. We don't know if they judge the males
for style, or flair. One rather hopes they do. But only a sharptail could
say.
[Cari] "It was kind of funny. All of these females running around with
their heads back, like come and get me."
{Donna] "They strut around definitely making their choice very carefully,
and the men did what they have to, for what they were able to attain at
the end of the dance."
The dancing ground is called a Lek.
The birds frequently return to the same ground year after year. It's staggering
to think that an unbroken line of sharptails have been dancing in these
same hills for hundreds of years. An annual ritual, each spring, insuring
the next generation of their kind. What faithfulness. And what a heritage
they leave in this single, irreplaceable plot of ground. This is their spot
on earth.
Sharptail Dance (large)
Sharptail ClipArt
This is Lex Hames for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, out
in the great North Dakota outdoors.
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